The Learn Tracker
...life-long learning: structured, organized, searchable...
924
Lectures Watched
Since January 1, 2014
Hundreds of free, self-paced university courses available:
my recommendations here
Peruse my collection of 275
influential people of the past.
View My Class Notes via:
Receive My Class Notes via E-Mail:

VIEW ARCHIVE

Contact Me via E-Mail:
edward [at] tanguay.info
Notes on video lecture:
The Flavian Amphitheater a.k.a. the Roman Colosseum
Notes taken by Edward Tanguay on March 15, 2014 (go to class or lectures)
Choose from these words to fill the blanks below:
intersect, Roma, Constantine, revolving, Ionic, concrete, travertine, Etruscan, political, elliptical, Titus, 50, Vespasian, discredit, Pompeii, wooden, Marcellus, Sol, Nero, lake
•
the Colosseum
•
the most famous building constructed by                   
•
construction began in 70 AD, two years after Nero died
•
Vespasian died in 79 so never saw it complete
•
80 AD: his son            completed it and dedicated it to Vespasian
•
could hold     ,000 people
•
made of concrete
•
near the Arch of                       
•
near the Temple of Venus and         
•
location of the Colosseum
•
where it was sited shows how shrewd Vespasian was in establishing a                    agenda and courting the favor of the public
•
Vespasian razed to the ground the Golden House of         
•
despite the fact that it had been done by great architects
•
despite the fact that it had                    ceilings
•
to                    Nero
•
return the property to the Roman people
•
filled in the artificial          and built the Colosseum
•
originally called "The Flavian Amphitheater"
•
after the family name of the three emperors: Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian
•
not because of its colossal scale
•
because of the colossus, an extremely large statue originally of Nero taken from his palace
•
Vespasian had the features of Nero erased from the statue and had them made into those of the sun god       
•
architecture
•
                     plan
•
made of                 
•
series of radiating annular and barrel vaults
•
ramps and passage ways
•
similar to
•
the amphitheater in               
•
Theater of                    (12 BC) down the street
•
the architectural experiments here were important in building the Colosseum
•
since it was a theater it was semi-circular whereas the Colosseum was an amphitheater and thus elliptical
•
first floor
•
annular vaults rest on stone piers made of travertine
•
second floor
•
groin or ribbed vault
•
new form of vault that we haven't seen before this time
•
two barrel vaults that                   
•
can be seen as the continuation of architectural creativity begun with the innovations of Nero's Domus Aurea, mainly the free flow of space
•
today we find it stripped quite bare
•
but in its day it was highly decorated
•
exterior
•
had four stories where the Theater of Marcellus only had three
•
structure is concrete, the facing is                     
•
decorative columns (pilasters) on the first three stories as the Theater of Marcellus has
•
they do not hold the building up as they would have in Greek or                  architecture
•
the meaning of the columns is to conjure up Ancient Greece, using all the orders: 1st story Doric, 2nd story           , and 3rd and 4th stories Corinthian
•
the building is held up by the barrel and annular vaults that are made out of concrete
•
so these columns are pure decoration, but decoration that has an ideological connection
•
travertine blocks on top were used to support the              poles of an awning used for when it would rain

Vocabulary:

groin vault, n. a vault with unique angles formed by the intersection of two barrel vaults ⇒ "On the second floor of the Colosseum we see a new kind of vault never seen before this time, called the groin vault."

Spelling Corrections:

collosal ⇒ colossal
ampitheater ⇒ amphitheater
Romulus Founds Rome
The Temple of Jupiter OMC
The Servian Wall of Rome
Temple of Portunus in Rome and Temple of Hercules in Cori
The Increasing Greekification of Roman Temple Building
Opus Caementicum and Opus Incertum
Porticus Aemilia
Temple of Jupiter Anxur at Terracina
Tabularium and Theater of Marcellus
Bathing, Entertainment, and Housing in Roman Cities
Roman Tombs, Aqueducts and the Lasting Impact of Roman Architecture
Julius Caesar's Vision to Make Rome the Architectural Equal of Alexandria
Augustus and Luna Marble
The Forum of Augustus and the Temple of Mars
Ara Pacis Augustae
The Meier Museum and the Jewel of the Lungotevere
Tiberius' Villa Jovis on Capri
Caligula, Lighter Concrete, and the Underground Basilica
The Significance of Nero's Octagonal Room on Roman Architecture
Hadrian's Pantheon
The Flavian Amphitheater a.k.a. the Roman Colosseum
The Temple of Venus and Roma
The Arch of Titus
The 79 AD Ruins of Herculaneum
Early History of Pompeii